This is my personal blog. I was Branch Secretary of Lambeth UNISON from 1992 to 2017 and a member of the National Executive Council (NEC) of UNISON, the public service union (www.unison.org.uk) from 2003 to 2017.
I am Chair of Brighton Pavilion Constituency Labour Party and of the Sussex Labour Representation Committee (LRC).
Neither the Labour Party nor UNISON is responsible for the contents of this personal blog. (Nor is my employer!)

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Tuesday, September 28, 2010

A meeting of minds?

My daughter offered me a further reason to dislike the ConDem cuts agenda - she says it means I have more meetings to go to.

Last night I was one of five members of my branch amongst 25 in the audience to hear a total of seven speakers at an open meeting convened by Lambeth Trades Council.

This may not have been the largest anti-cuts meeting I have attended recently but - at least in terms of platform contributions - it was one of the longest. In staying through the meeting those present demonstrated the tenacity which will be required to mount a defence of our Welfare State over the coming months (and years).

Although the Lambeth United Against the Cuts meeting in Brixton three weeks ago was several times larger - and indeed we have had larger turnouts at planning and organising meetings for Lambeth Save Our Services - the Trades Council pulled together a heavyweight list of speakers including Barry Camfield from the Liaison Committee for the Defence of Trade Unions and Lee Jasper speaking from the newly emerging organisation "Black Activists Rising Against Cuts". GMB Branch Secretary Bill Modlock spoke on behalf of the Council trade unions.

Lambeth has a large number of union activists living and/or working in the borough - and a vibrant diversity of community organisations alongside whom we need to campaign.

There remains an important role for the Trades Council as part of this campaigning activity, which requires an open and non-sectarian approach on all sides.